Toxic Series 4: Progeny
by shadowglove
Summary: Sequel to: Toxic. Chloe's been back in Lawrence for two months but is having a hard time readjusting to normal life and the Winchesters. It doesn't help that another phase of her mutation is about to start, and she's not ready for it. Neither is Sam.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville or Supernatural.**

A/N: Sequel to "Toxic".

Chapter 1/4

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It was hard.

It was damned hard.

"Are you going to go over to the Winchesters later today maybe?" Tess "Mercy" Mercer, her guardian and snarky confidant, wanted to know as she stood in the doorway, leaning her head against the doorframe. "Mary called me the other day...she wanted to make sure you knew that that was your home too...to not be such a stranger."

From where she was slipping on her skirt, Chloe froze for a moment, glad her back was towards Tess thus the redhead couldn't see the glimpse of true terror that came over her face.

Tess sighed, shaking her head. "Chloe, you came back to Lawrence because you wanted to reconnect with them and Lois and Lana...you wanted to live a normal life...but we've been back two months already and you've been over to their house what? Three times?" She sighed. "And the girls, whenever they come over you conveniently aren't home or disappear."

Sighing, Chloe turned towards her guardian. "I can't do this."

"Yes, you _can_." Tess countered, walking into the room and placing her hands on the sixteen year old's shoulders, staring into her eyes. "Those girls are your sisters, they love you, and you need to stop pushing them and everyone else away."

"I don't fit in here, Mercy. This was a bad idea." Chloe shrugged off Tess' hands, shaking her head. "I can't be the Chloe they remember! I can't be normal! I-I _itch_ every time I'm around them!"

"That's your body reacting to your nerves."

"I _know_ that." The blonde sent her a look. "I just-Mercy-I'm not the girl they expect me to be! I can't be!"

"Chloe..." Tess made her face. "No one expects you to be that fourteen year old anymore."

"They do!" Chloe threw her hands in the air. "I'm not like them anymore, we don't have the bond we used to have. They're...they're _normal_. They're living normal lives, have normal problems, and I just don't have a part in anyone's life anymore! They've moved on and so have I."

Tess sat down on Chloe's bed, looking up at the sixteen year old. "They still love you, Chlo."

"I know." She whispered, sitting down next to Tess and leaning her head against the older female's shoulder. "And I still love them I always will...but...but I don't think its enough."

Tess stroked Chloe's hair soothingly. "Give it some time."

Chloe closed her eyes. "I'm so _scared_, Mercy."

"I know, and its completely understandable." The redhead curled her arm around the younger girl's shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze. "Honey, no one expects you to just drop in and everything to be just right...it's going to take time to adjust to how you all have become your own individual people while separated. But those people love you, have been searching for you for two years, and they deserve more than for you to keep yourself withheld from them. You need to give them a chance to get to know you again and love you for who you are, faults and everything."

"When we were really young, Lana and Lois used to be my everything. I knew everything about them and they knew everything about me. It was as if we were one person." Chloe whispered, sniffling as she wiped at the tears in her eyes. "But now they're complete strangers to me. I don't know who or what they're talking about and they do things that completely confuse me. I don't get their jokes. I don't like their friends. I barely manage to keep from snapping at them in frustration whenever they laugh about something only they understand."

Tess just listened, knowing that this was what Chloe needed.

"Tess, I just-before Lionel came and took me back-already then I could feel the divide growing between us." Chloe whispered. "They were fitting in, I never did. They could understand things like falling in love, while I was still debating whether if it was falling in love what made the chemicals react in your brain or if the chemicals reacting in your brain were what made you think you were in love!"

"Have you decided which it is?"

"I'm still out on that one." Chloe admitted, biting her bottom lip. "They're so _normal_...and I _hate_ them for it! And I feel so bad for feeling this way! For being so jealous! I resent them so badly and I have no reason to do so!"

"Actually, you do." Tess caressed her hair. "They got two years to completely become a part of society while Lionel used those years to screw you up even more...it makes sense that a part of you resents them for it."

Chloe closed her eyes, seeking comfort from one of the only people she trusted to draw from.

Tess and Lex were the only ones who knew what she was and still seemed to genuinely care for her.

She honestly didn't know if they loved her, since they both had their reasons for being with her, but she trusted them and felt so much more comfortable with them. She knew where she stood with them, what they got out of being with her and what she got out of being with them. It was straight forwards and point blank. It was clear for her. She didn't have to agonize with them.

With the Winchesters (Lana and Lois included as well since they'd been adopted) Chloe knew without a doubt that that whole family had loved and adored her, and yet she couldn't trust them, not truly.

Or maybe it was that she just couldn't trust herself around them.

The blonde closed her eyes tighter.

Lex and Tess knew what she was, knew what she could do, knew what to expect and how to handle her. The Winchesters didn't. They didn't understand that she was a killer, or that she was dangerously addicted to a personality altering drug that crippled her and sent her into a cardiac arrest if she started having withdrawals. If something happened and she flipped a switch while around them...they wouldn't be able to protect themselves. Lana and Lois were practically useless in that department now that their powers had been taken away.

Tess mightn't have any ability at all, but somehow she always knew how to get through to Chloe even when the blonde was at her darkest, just like Lex.

"Hey! Red!" A familiar male voice called from somewhere inside of the large house. "What have I told you about buying food only women would eat?"

Tess groaned. "How does he keep getting inside of the house?"

Chloe smirked, watching the redhead flush with annoyance in a way that only Dean Winchester could make her.

Ever since Tess and her had moved into the nicest foreclosure in Lawrence, the Winchester family had visited frequently (especially considering Chloe's near _fear_ of going to the Winchester's own home) but none had been as permanent a fixture as Sam and Dean Winchester. Tess and Dean still fought like cats and dogs, swore they detested each other...but Chloe wondered when they would realize that she wasn't deaf. It was somewhat insulting really, because Dean wasn't the master of stealthiness whenever he 'snuck' into the house at nights, and Tess herself was a _very_ loud lay. Sure, Chloe's room might be on the other side of the house, but there were some nights where she had to turn up the music on her stereo so she could sleep.

At the beginning she used to spy on them, but in the end she'd been horny and with no hunk to help her relieve the frustration...so she'd left them alone.

"Go on and make sure he doesn't break something." Chloe smiled at her guardian.

"Are you feeling better?" Tess wanted to make sure.

Chloe rolled her eyes and smiled. "_Go_."

Something crashed.

"That wasn't me!" Dean yelled out.

"Argh!" Tess turned on heel and stormed out of the room.

Hearing the arguing beginning already, Chloe rolled her eyes and looked down when her phone began to ring. She didn't recognize the number and frowned as she answered, bringing it to her ear. "Who is this?"

"Have they noticed anything yet?" A familiar male voice asked.

Chloe stood, eyes wide, beginning to tremble. "How-?"

"You've been hiding the side-effects very well, not even Mercy's noticed."

"You don't get to call her that." She snapped, pulled out of her immense shock by protective anger. "Don't even speak her name!"

"Jealous?" He chuckled.

"You're supposed to be _dead_." She growled, going to her window and looking out. "How am I talking to you? Because I'm sure there aren't any telephones down in hell."

"You'd be surprised at how comfortable I am right now." He replied cheekily, before sighing. "Chloe you need it, you know you do."

"I can do without it." She protested. "I'm doing fine."

"Bullshit. Your blackouts are happening more and more frequently."

She froze. "I've been with you, haven't I?"

"How do you think I have your number?"

She collapsed on the bed, hand to her forehead. "How many times?"

"Twelve in the past two months."

Chloe closed her eyes. "Two months?"

"Since you moved to Lawrence and out of Lex's close eye." He replied. "You've been coming to me, Chloe, you've been seeking _me_ out."

"How did I find you if up until now I didn't even know you were alive?" She whispered.

"You know the answer to that question." He replied.

She glared at her reflection in the mirror. "_I have time_."

"Denial isn't a pretty thing, Chloe. It's stupid and annoying. Especially when you have the facts staring you in the face."

Her laptop beeped.

"Check your email."

Chloe didn't hesitate, bringing up her email account and accessing the email he'd sent...eyes widening as she saw the pictures. She clicked on the short videos and watched herself, saw the timelines, saw _him_.

The blonde closed her eyes and lowered the lid of the laptop. "What do you want?"

"You know you don't belong there, Chloe." He told her. "You know you don't belong with them in their world."

She closed her eyes tighter. "Don't call me again."

"You say that...but can you stay away?" He asked, before hanging up.

Chloe sat on the bed, pressing her phone against her mouth, mind whirring desperately as she tried to make sense of this and how it could be happening. He was supposed to be dead! And yet on her laptop was the proof that not only was he alive, but that she'd sought him out during her blackouts. Somehow, instinctively, she'd known and found him. She'd _searched_ for him.

She kinda hated herself for that.

The blonde took in a deep breath, realizing she was going to have to tell Tess about this, about him, and she dreaded having to do that.

A knock sounded on her door and it opened, Sam peeking his head inside with a smile. "Hey you."

"Hey." She smiled, forcing her doubts and worries away as she gazed up at him. "Thought you had classes this evening?"

Sam was going to the university in Lawrence, not working on his law degree as he should. He'd admitted that those two years he'd spent in his own sort of hell he'd changed as well, and he wasn't so sure he was made for a career in law anymore. Until he could get his mind around what he wanted to do and be he was doing some general studies.

"Decided to skip today, too tired." Sam admitted with a smile as he collapsed on her bed, gazing up at the ceiling and letting out a deep breath.

"Want a back rub?" She offered, wondering if he realized that he was one of the only people she willingly initiated any sort of lingering contact with.

He hesitated, keeping his eyes on the ceiling, before shaking his head. "No."

The sixteen year old frowned as she gazed at him.

Sometimes she hated him more than she hated anyone else.

She stretched and lay down next to him, gazing up at the ceiling. "I was only offering because I used to give Lex a back rub every evening to help him with stress."

Sam was silent, his body tense just like it was every single time she brought up Lex.

The blonde knew Sam didn't like Lex, knew that he resented him, and that was why she purposely brought up the bald billionaire whenever Sam pissed her off. He'd gotten her back, she was here in Lawrence wasn't she? And yet other than spend a godawful amount of time at her home with Tess he did nothing. Chloe knew he was attracted to her sexually, and she knew he knew she was more than willing...but like Lex Sam had obviously decided that she wasn't to be touched. And dammit, it _hurt_.

Chloe had always doubted Lex's word that he hadn't slept with her because she was too young. She'd lost all sort of innocence a long time ago and she _wanted_ her virginity _gone_. She wanted it gone of her own choosing. She wanted to have control over herself at least _that much_, and yet the two men that she'd chosen for potential deflowers had decided that they weren't doing it.

And in a sense she could understand them.

She was dangerous.

If she lost control of her power she could...who knew?

It was especially her ability to screw with people's brains that made the situation the more dangerous, and who knew what her power would do should she finally climax during the act? Would it act upon the one with whom she was sleeping with? Would it hurt him? Destroy his brain? His self-will?

"Sleep over tonight." Sam finally spoke, gaze on the ceiling. "You haven't stayed over since you've returned and mom and the others would really like to have you over."

"Not tonight." Chloe hedged, uncomfortable and a little terrified. "Another night this week."

"No." Sam turned to look at her. "You're going to get your...fix...tomorrow." He lowered his gaze to the pattern on the bed before rising it to her once more. "And they're getting so insistent they might come and find..._her_."

And when he said 'her' he meant 'The Bitch', as Tess referred to Chloe's Red!K personality.

Whenever Chloe got her "fix" it altered her personality, and while the bulk of it usually only lasted a couple of hours the hint of that killer bitch remained in Chloe's system for days. She was snappish, and yet at the same quite cold. She could be seductive, tempting. Always deadly. Always enjoying the pain and misfortune. The power.

"Alright." Chloe nodded, pulling herself to her feet and going to her closet. "I'll sleep over, catch up with the fam, be the good little girl I'm supposed to be."

"Do you really want to be here?" Sam asked form the bed.

Chloe sighed and closed her eyes, glad that her back was to him. "Ignore me, I'm...moody, today."

"I'm serious Chloe." Sam slowly sat up, eyeing her intently. "Everyone's noticed it. Ever since you've come back you're-muted."

"I'm hardly quiet." Chloe pretended ignorance as she opened her eyes and riffled through her clothes.

"The girls want you to go out with them and their friends and you never go. You don't sleep over unless I basically emotionally blackmail you into it." Sam stood. "Lois is pregnant and other than silently examine her whenever you're together you don't react to it!"

"What am I supposed to do, Sam?" Chloe snapped, throwing down the shirt she'd been pretending to eye, turning towards him. "_Pretend_ that I'm _happy_ she got knocked up by her first boyfriend? That I _approve_ of the life they'll be having? That I don't worry that that kid of hers is going to end up cursed just like we were?" She glared at him, emotions rising in her throat. "How could she keep the kid? _How_ could she be so stupid? So _selfish_? She mightn't have active powers anymore but its _in her DNA_! We were experiments! We were tweaked and changed to suit their molecular curiosities! For _years_ we were injected with substances that mutated and deformed our DNA into something inhuman! Even if the damn 'cure' has removed any side-effect these mutations have manifested in Lois and Lana it hasn't changed them on a molecular level!"

Sam's eyes widened.

"That kid could be born _blue_, Sam. He could be born with scales, or a tail! He could be born inside out yet still able to live somehow! But should he _have_ to live like that?" Tears of anger were filling her orbs. "And if that kid is born, and manifests some sort of power-Lois won't have him for a _day_. He'll be taken from her, because despite the fact that they've been neutralized the attention has _never_ left Lois and Lana. There have _always_ been partners of Lionel keeping tabs on them."

"Are you sure about this?" Sam whispered, taking a step towards her.

Chloe sneered. "Lana's sixteenth birthday: the catering company in charge of her party suddenly went bankrupt and you were given complimentary services of another company." The blonde raised her chin. "Thing is, no one realized that the first catering company was a front for some of the founders of Cadmus Labs, to let you understand what those people were like one of those founders was Lionel." She felt a vicious sense of satisfaction at the horror that came over Sam's face at that realization. "They wanted to see how Lois and Lana's bodies would react to certain...chemicals...which would be placed in the cake thus assuring their intake."

"Those bastards!" Sam snarled, brotherly protectiveness filling him.

"Lex dealt with the situation." Chloe replied, revealing one of the many things she owed Lex for. "It wasn't the first time he'd had to interfere with Cadmus Labs' plans for them and it won't be the last."

Sam went silent, face blank.

"And they have a _very_ big interest in this kid." Chloe revealed, voice and expression hard, dark. "While creating the perfect assassins was part of the project we were a part of, another factor in the experiment was the continuation of the bloodline."

"What do you mean?" But by the darkness entering those blue eyes, Sam betrayed that he understood.

"_Progeny, _Sam." Chloe sneered at him, ignoring the way her warring emotions were causing her body to tremble. "The secondary emphasis on Project Gaia was the _breeding_ program."

Sam went still.

"We were nothing but animals to them. Of _course_ once they perfected the off-shoot human breed they wanted, they developed an active, enhanced sexual drive in their specimens and altered their breeding patterns to ensure conception." Chloe felt ashamed and angry, hating herself for telling Sam all of her shameful secrets. These were things he didn't need to know, should never know, and yet she couldn't keep herself silent no matter how hard she tried. "Why do you think Lionel never pressed his suit with me? Why he never used his power over me, his control over my collar, to force himself on me?"

That darkness grew tenfold on Sam's face as he clenched his fist. "Because you threatened to mess with the collar and kill yourself if he did."

"That might have been part of it," Chloe conceded. "But he also knew that after I reached maturity I'd enter into _estrus_ and would screw _anyone_ willingly." She hugged herself, disgust rising in her throat. "He only had to _wait_."

Sam's eyes widened and the darkness disappeared, being taken over by pure horror and utter disgust as he sat back down. "They designed you to go into _heat_."

She flinched at how much on an animal that made her sound, hated him knowing such a vile thing, resented him terribly for leaving her emotionally unstable enough to have let this slip. "The idea wouldn't be to father any children of his own as he would be already passed his prime. No, there would be a designated breeding partner, but the estrus would help Lionel relieve his sexual longings while I was receptive to his otherwise spurned advances." She steeled herself. "He wouldn't have done anything wrong. It wouldn't have been rape."

"The _hell_ it wouldn't!" Sam snapped, standing once more, coming towards her and shaking her angrily. "Why the hell are you defending that pedophile?"

"I'm not!" She pushed him away, eyes flashing. "I killed him so he would never touch me! I'm not defending him!" She clenched her fists at her side. "But if I enter into estrus I'd go into a mating frenzy, I'd be more than willing, I'd be _desperate_." She swallowed down the bile in her throat. "Those are the facts that I have to live with."

Sam was silent, gaze lowered, hair falling into his face, shadowing it and keeping it hidden from her.

"I wanted to be normal, thought I could be if I came back here, but I can't." Chloe's voice trembled. "I can't pretend to care about Lana and Lois' friends, or show a moderate interest in the topic of fashion, or hide the fact that I think Lois' pregnancy is the stupidest, most selfish mistake she has ever made. I can't sit in your house and hear them talk about the cute delivery guy because I've fried the brains of someone who looks _very similar_ to him. I can't look your parents in the face because I've killed parents in front of their children, and then I've killed the children." She tried never to think of the things she'd done for Lionel while under the haze of a constant red!k fog...but they were things she would never be able to forget and would haunt her. "I can't go to school and pretend I'm even vaguely interested in my classes or schoolmates or remotely intimidated by my teachers and the threats of detentions and expulsions. Not when they seem laughable to what I've been through." She hugged herself tightly. "I don't understand how to function properly in a world in which someone isn't dying."

Sam continued to stand there, body stiff like steel, hands clenched at his sides...before he suddenly turned and silently leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

Chloe refused to cry but the emotional toll had ripped her apart, and her body was now begging as it shivered viciously.

She barely managed to grab her phone and scroll down the menu before finding the last received number, shaking fingers pressing the call button.

The phone rang and rang, he was obviously letting her know that he had all the control here.

Finally, he answered. "That was quick. Didn't expect to hear from you in at least a couple of days."

"Do you have it?" Her teeth chattered with the force of her shivers.

There was a pause, before: "Where do you want to meet?"

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**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville or Supernatural.**

A/N: Sequel to "Toxic".

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She'd quickly changed her clothes, grabbed her purse and escaped through the back window. It'd been easy to compel the first person she came across to give her a ride to directions she'd been given, and an hour later it was thanks to that same ability that she wasn't stopped by the bouncer. She hadn't waited in line either, not when she was this desperate, and had ignored the people complaining as she walked passed them and straight into the nightclub. Her gaze wet around her, strobe lights and music dominating the packed place. For a second she contemplated calling him and letting him know that she was there, but if he was anything like she remembered he already knew and was watching.

With that she went towards the bar and ordered herself a drink to stave off the shakes, knocking back the tequila shot with near desperation.

"You're close," his voice was on the back of her neck as he leaned over her, hands on the counter on each side of her. "I don't need enhanced scent to know you're on the very edge of it. The tension's only going to bring it on quicker you know."

She drank another shot before turning in the stool to finally face the man she'd thought dead. "Hello Lucas."

Lucas Dunleavy smiled his devil-may-care smile, face oh-so-close to hers as he leaned in the rest of the way and pressed a kiss to her lips before pulling away. "Miss me?"

"Where is it?"

"I feel _used_." Mock hurt flashed over his features before he grinned and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small plastic bag with red powder in it.

She snatched it away from him, frowning. "That's not going to be enough."

"It _is_ considering you're getting your normal dosage of the _potent_ stuff tomorrow." He replied, smug in his knowledge. "You know, you really _are_ close. Your pupils have been completely diluted since the moment you entered this place and more than a couple of guys are picking up on your signals."

Chloe bit the inside of her mouth to keep from answering that as she got up and went towards the bathroom. Once inside she made sure no one was around before dumping the contents on the bag into her palm and brought it to each nostril, sniffing the crimson powder. Immediately she could feel the red!k working on her, lowering her heart rate and diminishing her tremors until she was in control once again, her gaze going to her reflection in time to see her eyes flash that familiar crimson.

The dust was a much less dosage than the syringe and typically it wouldn't be enough, but Lucas was right as always, it'd keep her until tomorrow's dosage.

Smiling at her reflection, a hint of The Bitch shining in her eyes, Chloe unlocked the bathroom door and exited, finding Lucas leaning against the wall smirking at her.

"Feeling better now sweetheart?"

"You know, for a dead guy, you sure look good." Chloe declared, much more mellow and flirty now with the drug in her system.

"I know." Lucas agreed cheekily before motioning for her to follow him as he started towards the back office. "Close the door behind you."

Doing as told once they were inside, Chloe leaned up against the door, eyeing Lucas as he sat down behind a desk. "So?"

"So..." Lucas rested his feet up on the desk, quite relaxed. "I'm not dead."

"I figured that part out you know." She smirked, tapping her temple. "Superior intelligence and all."

He sniggered. "Missed that humor of yours."

"Enough stalling Luc," Chloe eyed him seriously. "How are you still alive?"

"C'mon Chlo, you didn't really think he'd _kill_ me, did you?" Lucas shook his head. "I was way too valuable for him to do so...and not exactly because I was his _son_."

"So what, Lionel had you captive somewhere?" Chloe frowned, going to sit on the chair across the desk. "Why didn't you tell me you were alive when Lex took over? Why didn't you tell _him_ you were alive?"

"Chloe, he _knew_." Lucas shook his head. "Who do you think helped me escape daddy dearest in the first place? Who got me my cushy lifestyle in hiding?"

"Lex _knew_?" Chloe asked softly, confused and shocked. "Why didn't he tell me?" Her eyes narrowed. "Does _Mercy_ know?"

Lucas sighed, leaning forwards against the desk. "Last time I talked with Lex she didn't, he believed that it was better for the both of you to function under the belief that I was dead." He raised an eyebrow. "But that crack about me supposed to being in hell? That was uncalled for. I nearly died helping save yours and Mercy's asses."

"After the things you and I have done, if hell exists, that's the only place we'll go." Chloe responded with a flinch, remembering the last time she'd seen Lucs far too clearly for comfort. "I take comfort in knowing I won't be there alone."

Lucas eyed her before shaking his head. "Kiddo, you need to lighten up."

"Mercy deserves to know you're alive." Chloe leaned forwards over the desk. "She thinks you died because of _her_."

Lucas flinched. "Yes, well, she won't be too happy with Lex when she finds out."

"She's never happy with Lex." Chloe replied with a roll of her eyes. "That's their default sibling conduct. They squabble. Constantly."

"Why haven't you lost your virginity yet?" Lucas changed the topic drastically, eyeing her with narrowed gaze.

Chloe glared at him for finding the one topic that stung like none other. "The two candidates I chose refused me."

"Chloe..." Worry entered his eyes. "You do _not_ want to lose your virginity during the Frenzy."

"I _know_ that!" She snapped before covering her face and letting out a ragged sigh. "I was hoping...but neither of my choices are willing." She let her fingers slip from her face. "Lex _said_ he would, but I'm doubting him, he's put it off too much. And Sam-Sam won't even let me _touch_ him-and after tonight I wouldn't be surprised if I don't see much of him anymore."

Lucas eyed her intently. "I was hoping that your Sam would come around."

Obviously she must have talked about Sam during these visits of her in her blacked-out state.

"I would offer my own services...but there is a matter of a certain _vow_ we made each other." Lucas reached over the desk and grabbed her hand, giving it a little squeeze. "Should I find you an acceptable replacement?"

The blonde worried her bottom lip. "Who would you have in mind?"

"There are a couple of men I could recommend, though at this point Adam Knight seems the best option." Lucas replied in a business-like manner. "He was killed in an accident and resurrected by daddy dearest, hated his guts just like the rest of us, and had Lana Lang passed the test he would have been _her_ designated breeding partner."

"So how much like a zombie is he?" Chloe wanted to know.

Lucas snorted, much more like himself now. "There's no craving for _brains_ if that's what has you worried. He's perfectly normal thanks to monthly injections-quite like yourself actually." He chuckled. "You'll have some common ground now that I think about it."

"Fine." Chloe nodded. "When can I meet him?"

"How long do you think you have?" He eyed her worriedly.

"A couple of days at most." Chloe admitted, running her hand over her hair. "Twelve times in two months, huh?" She sighed, unable to process that without feeling ill. "My body has known it far longer than I have." She shook his her, disgusted. "I like to think that I've evolved somehow...and then my body starts acting on its own, searching out its designated breeding partner, just as it was programmed to. I'm nothing more than an android, a computer deluded into thinking it has life and free choice but is instead following the programming of my hard-drive."

"Well, if you're a computer running through a pre-programmed software you've malfunctioned." Lucas snorted. "Otherwise I wouldn't be an orphan, don't you think?"

She felt a little better at the memory of ending Lionel's life, a small smile tugging on her lips. "You always know how to make me feel better."

"We make a great pair." Lucas smirked, winking. "Pity we swore never to make dear old daddy proud by ever crossing that line with each other."

Chloe nodded her agreement and would have said more to the effect had her phone not rung. The blonde reached into her bag and pulled out her mobile, frowning when she saw the number displayed. "It's Sam."

"Thought you said you didn't think he'd be speaking to you anymore." Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"I told him about the breeding program and he _left_." She flinched at the memory, feeling sick at her stomach. "He must have gone back and realized that I snuck out."

Lucas reached over and stole the phone from her before flipping the lid open and bringing it to his ear. "Hello?" His gaze found Chloe's and he smirked. "She's busy." He grinned quite mischievously. "I'm the one _making_ her busy."

Rolling her eyes at him, realizing he was just making things worse (and knowing him it was most probably on purpose), Chloe stole back her phone and brought it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Chloe? Where the hell are you? And who's that?" Sam growled.

"I'm busy, Sam." She sighed, shaking her head at Lucas as he waggled his eyebrows at her. "I'll get him to drop me off at your parents house at a decent hour and I'll do the sleepover, okay? I'm not bailing on it. Just ask Mercy to pack some things for me and you take them back with you when you go to your home."

"Chloe...we need to talk." Sam took in a deep breath. "It's about what you told me tonight."

"I figured." She made a face. "And we'll talk, later at your house while the others are sleeping."

Already she could feel her body craving for more red kryptonite, the upcoming Fever burning away the reservoirs in her body at an alarming rate.

There was a knock on the door behind them and someone stuck his head in. "Hey Lucas, there's-."

"Adam, don't you see I'm _busy_?" Lucas drawled.

Chloe turned around, eyes widening when her gaze fell upon the handsome man. "Oh _wow_."

"So I take it he meets your approval?" Lucas snickered.

Chloe ended the call with Sam, turning towards Adam Knight. "Hey."

"Hey." He gave her a slow smile before turning to Lucas. "Morgan Edge is here."

Lucas' face went dark. "Great. I'll deal with him myself." He turned to Chloe. "Do you need me to have someone give you a ride back to Lawrence?"

"I'll find someone." She shook her head before her gaze went to Adam Knight curiously. "So, a zombie, huh?"

Adam's eyes narrowed for a second before they widened. "You're one of us."

"Not at all." Lucas stood and moved around the desk to rest his arm around Chloe's shoulders. "She was Lionel's favored little lamb."

"I see." Adam's expression darkened. "You have my sympathies."

"Don't need them." She replied. "I killed him."

Adam smirked.

Lucas squeezed Chloe's shoulders. "I'll wait to find out about how your conversation with Sam went before I make any plans. How's that?"

Chloe nodded. "I don't really see how it will make much of a difference now, but thank you." She reached up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I'm glad you're alive."

"It does have its good days." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before letting go and turning to Adam. "Let's go."

Adam sent her an intrigued look before nodding, the both of them leaving the office.

Chloe sighed, gaze going back to her phone when it rung once more. "Sam..."

"I'll pick you up." His voice was blank. "It's a school night. You shouldn't be out. I've got your stuff. Tell me where to come and get you."

"_Fine_." She bit the inside of her mouth to keep the pleasure of his insistence out of her tone. "I'm in Edge City. A nightclub called Jaguar's Den."

"_Edge City_?" Sam growled before taking in a deep breath. "_Fine_. Give me directions."

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It annoyed Sam that the moment he arrived at the shady little nightclub he'd been ushered in without hassle. Obviously they'd known he was coming, his description, and that meant that not only was Chloe a frequent patron of this seedy little dive but she knew the people here well enough to have the bouncers let her friends in without waiting. He wasn't dressed for this type of scene and felt horribly out of place, never having been the partying type of person. He didn't like bars, didn't trust the sort of people that frequented these places, and to be honest every time he came into one he felt murderous.

It didn't help that the last two times he'd entered a place like this it had been to get Chloe.

He remembered how when she'd reappeared that he'd come to find her in the seedy little watering hole the shit town he was in boasted of, remembered her working her mental mojo to scam some asshole out of free drinks.

Sam had wanted to kill the man.

Those feelings were returning tenfold as Chloe's laughter reached him and he found her sitting on the counter at the bar, flirting with some dickhead who was leaning too close to her. There were a flock of men surrounding her in a half-crescent, but unlike the last time he'd been in this situation Sam could tell somehow that she wasn't using her Jedi Mind Tricks on them. Oh, they were a little drunk, yes, but they didn't display that slight zombiness that her victims usually did. They were alert. And intent. On _her_.

And she was egging them on.

Her clothes alone were indecent.

Fuck.

It was one of the things he hated Lex for doing her.

When she'd left them she was always wearing long skirts and long-sleeved shirts and yet now what she wore was _whorish_.

And her attitude-.

Sam frowned.

It seemed almost like The Bitch and yet not as strong.

His eyes narrowed.

She couldn't have gotten her hands on some red k...right?

"So, I finally meet the famous Sam Winchester I've heard so much about." A voice to his right drawled.

Sam turned to see a slightly shorter man with similar coloring to him leaning against the wall, a beer in hand. "You're the guy who answered Chloe's phone."

"Ten points to Kansas." The man praised with a smirk, taking a sip of his beer before his gaze went to Chloe. "I know you think you're protecting her, being her good older brother and taking care of her, but you're just hurting her more man."

Sam's fists clenched.

"She's _ripe_ man." The nameless stranger declared, eyes on her. "She's so close to the Fever she's sending out pheromones like _crazy_. You can almost _see_ them radiating from her pores and surrounding her in a golden mist."

Sam realized that this man knew what Chloe was, what had been done to her, and that meant he somehow knew Lex and Mercy. And Lionel. It made Sam like him even less. "Who are you?"

"I'm the one who's supposed to scratch this itch of hers. We were each other's designated breeding partners." The man couldn't have rattled Sam more if he'd punched him. "Neither of us are _stupid_ enough to actually follow protocol of course, but it means I get what she's going through better than anyone else and I'm telling you, you're fucking her up."

Where did he get off telling Sam that he was hurting Chloe?

All Sam had _ever_ done had been to try and protect her!

"Back off, okay?" There was an air of menace despite the smile on the man's face. "She doesn't deserve entering the Frenzy still a virgin. She should at least have _one_ decent thing happen to her in her fucked up life."

It occurred to Sam then and there that this man truly thought he was protecting Chloe by ordering him to back away. "She's not just some experiment. She's _human_."

"Fuck that, she's not human, they made sure of that." The man sneered, shaking his head, taking a long gulp of his drink. "You need to get it around your head, ginormo, that Chloe's _not_ some little human girl. She's reached breeding age and her body is sending signals left right and center that it's ready. Every guy here's picking up on those signals and the quicker she finds one to fuck on her own terms the better." He took another long gulp. "She's got _days_ at best."

Sam felt coldness enter her. "Until what?"

"Until it rains lollipops..." The man gave him a disgusted glare. "What do you _think_ man? The Fever! She's on the borders as it is."

He felt sucker punched. "What happens if she goes into heat as a virgin?"

The man gave him a long look before sighing. "Those girls were designed to breed whether they wanted to or not." He gave Sam a long look. "It's called a Frenzy for a reason. There's a high chance of intense tearing, internal injuries, not to mention her body could go into shock." He made a face. "And should the Fever start while she's out and without a fixed breeding partner..." he flinched, going paler. "I've seen the case files of the ones they experimented on before Chloe. Some of those women..." he looked sick. "They were unfortunate to enter estrus while having no fixed breeding partner and in a populated area. Many of them had so many partners in one night that they-." He growled, eyes darkening. "I _will not_ let that happen to that kid. Lionel fucking ruined everything else for her. I won't let him take this from her as well."

The insinuations in that conversation left Sam sick and horrified. He could understand this man's fear, especially as his gaze went to Chloe surrounded by those men. If this was what it was like when she was bordering the Frenzy, he could imagine how it would be once it hit. The men would continue to be drawn in one after the other after the other and both Chloe and this man had basically told Sam that she'd be desperate and her body would force her to accept any sexual advances given.

Terror filled Sam at the thought of her entering heat while in this seedy little joint.

The men here-there were so many-they would-!

"She doesn't belong in your world, Sam Winchester, and she's beginning to realize it." The man finished his beer. "If you really care about her, you'll realize this too and let her go."

With that he turned and walked away.

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**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville or Supernatural.**

A/N: Sequel to "Toxic".

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The drive back to Lawrence had been silent, and Chloe hadn't pushed Sam to the conversation he'd hinted to wanting before, knowing that there was a lot on his mind. She slipped into the back of the truck and changed into a less revealing shirt and laid on the backseat, gazing up at the ceiling, thinking about all that she'd learnt tonight. The blonde wanted to go back to Mercy immediately and tell her everything, but she knew that she owed it to everyone to go to the Winchesters and have a good time. Even if she had to fake it. She'd learnt how to fake things before, hadn't she? These people deserved for her to fake to her best.

And fake it she did.

She faked her confidence, faked her good mood, faked enthusiasm for Lois' newest ultrasound (which thankfully didn't allude to any sort of tail) and Lana's stories of new admirers. And it was worth it. John and Mary were beaming, hugging her every couple of minutes and telling her how happy they were to have her, and Lois and Lana were happy as well. Sam had retreated to his room but that was probably for the best, since Chloe needed to fully concentrate to do this.

She realized though, that with the red!k dust in her system it was easier to just open up and smile and laugh and pretend.

Maybe Lucas could hook her up with a supply.

That way she could always have some whenever she needed to come over and spend time with the Winchesters.

They deserved a fun, open Chloe.

Also, the doses weren't large enough to make The Bitch really come out.

It...it couldn't hurt.

It wouldn't.

She ignored the slight craving rising in her throat and the goosebumps of pleasure at the thought of another hit of the red dust.

"I know we must be annoying you with all the times we've said it tonight, but we really _are_ so happy you came."

Chloe turned from where she'd been in the kitchen drinking a glass of water while everyone else were in the living room watching a movie.

Mary Winchester smiled softly at her, that tender, wonderfully maternal love just radiating out of her. "Tess asked us to go easy on you, to let you ease into having us around again, but you have to understand that you're one of my daughters and it's hard for me."

Chloe's grip tightened on the glass, eyes widening, emotions churning inside of her.

"Chloe, we missed you so much." Mary whispered, eyes filling with tears as she gazed at her. "We never stopped praying-never stopped looking-never stopped _hoping_..."

Chloe couldn't look at the woman, lowering her gaze.

"I know this is hard for you honey." Mary came towards her slowly, like one would approach a wounded, scared animal. "And I can't even begin to understand the horrible things you've gone through these last couple of years...but whatever happened, we _still love you_. Nothing is going to change that."

Chloe couldn't look up at Mary, shame and horror filling her at that trust and love.

She'd killed mothers who were probably wonderful like this this.

Like Mary.

Chloe had done so many horrible things...so _many _things they could _never_ know.

Mary gasped in horror.

The sound jerked Chloe out of her daze and she stared at her hand thoughtfully, watching the blood trickle down her skin as the broken glass in her hand cut into her.

She hadn't even felt the pain.

"Honey are you okay?" Mary hurried her to the sink, making her drop the broken shards into the garbage before running water over the wounds. "I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have pushed!"

Chloe watched as Mary tended to her tenderly, tears in the woman's eyes, slowly making their way down her cheeks as she cleaned the wound and checked for any remaining glass.

The blonde didn't deserve this.

She shouldn't be treated this way.

So nicely.

So _humanly_.

Desperation and pain rolled inside of her, the tears silent as they made their way down her cheeks.

"Honey." Mary sent her a worried look, cupping her jaw. "Does it hurt that much?"

It was _agony_.

She forced a smile for the older woman. "Sorry for breaking your glass, I was just clumsy."

"Hon, I don't care about the glass. It's _you_ I'm worried about."

"This is nothing. Promise." Chloe tried to let the woman know that she really wasn't hurt, she'd lived through worse. "I'll just need some pain killers and this will heal up in time."

Mary failed to seem reassured though as she wrapped a kitchen towel around the injured hand. "We should take you to see the doctor, these cuts are deep. You could bleed out."

Oh, she doubted it.

"I'm fine Mary." Chloe continued to smile at the woman, needing her to not worry. The whole idea of this trip was to make her, John, and the others happy. To keep them from worrying about her. She couldn't fail in this. "You know I'm a fast healer."

Mary sighed as she nodded, caressing Chloe's cheek with her thumb. "You've had to be."

Chloe gulped around the emotion lodged in her throat. "Mary?"

"Yes honey?"

"I know...I know I've been...unfair to everyone." She cleared her throat. "I know that I should be around more and I know that I should be more enthusiastic-believe me-Sam and I fought about this earlier so I know I'm disappointing everyone."

Anger flashed through those eyes. "You are _not_ disappointing us Chloe. We don't understand what exactly you've been through, even Lois and Lana haven't a full scope of what has happened to you, but we're just happy to have you back." She cupped Chloe's face between her hands, staring directly in her hands. "You're family, Chloe. _Our_ family. And we _love_ you."

"Thank you." Chloe's voice was hoarse with emotion.

Mary sighed and leaned forwards, pressing a kiss to her forehead before hugging the girl, cradling her in her embrace.

Chloe tensed before willing herself to calm down enough to rest her cheek against Mary's heartbeat, allowing the steady sound to slowly ease her into relaxing completely.

She was glad for the pain in her hand which kept her grounded, gave her something to focus on. With Lionel her body had grown accustomed to fearing prolonged physical contact, and it was only thanks to Lex that she was growing out of the sick queasiness at being held like this.

Not everyone who held her had ulterior motives.

She didn't wear a collar anymore...at least not one that worked.

Mary wouldn't hurt her.

And she had enough control over herself at this moment to be sure she wouldn't hurt Mary either.

Not at this moment at least.

So if only for tonight she allowed this, allowed herself this, to accept the comfort.

"I know I have problems showing it," Chloe whispered, using her uninjured hand to awkwardly reciprocate the hug. "But I really _did_ miss you guys."

"We know honey." Mary whispered back, voice trembling with emotion. _"We know_."

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"You're close."

Chloe looked up from where she'd been washing her face to try and cool herself down, unnerved that twice already she'd been snuck up on tonight. "Excuse me?"

Lois leaned in the doorway, hand over her stomach, face drawn. "The Fever. You're close."

She could see her 'sister's' expression go hallow, and it hurt her, _killed_ her to know that she didn't have that place of confidence in her life anymore. Lois sometimes hated Tess Mercer with the power of a million burning suns for occupying her place in her sister's life. For years they'd hoped and prayed that they'd find her, and yet now that they had Chloe back it was as if they hadn't found her at all. Part of her was still missing, still out there somewhere being tortured beyond repair.

"Cody helped you through your first one, huh?" Chloe wouldn't meet her gaze, hugging herself as if trying to protect herself.

Lois wanted to remind Chloe that she _never_ had _ever_ had to protect herself from her and Lana.

_Never_.

But _Mercer_ had warned them that Chloe was skittish, that they needed to be patient.

Lois didn't want to be patient.

She wanted her sister back.

She wanted to hug the blonde tightly and cry and tell her she loved her and ask for forgiveness for not keeping Grandfather-_Lionel_-from taking her.

Lois wished she could do so many things, start making everything better, integrate Chloe back into their family.

It was why she and Lana did their best to have Chloe be around their friends, and tried to engage her in girl-talk, but their every effort either made Chloe react with terror or indifference.

"Yeah, Cody's helpful when my time comes around." Lois was desperately clinging onto the slightest opportunity to reconnect. "Have you ever-?"

"No." Chloe whispered, eyes haunted and sad as they finally met Lois'. "Lex was going to-but we never got around to it." She bit her bottom lip. "But I've found someone."

"Sam?" Lois wanted to retract the question immediately when she saw Chloe's reaction.

The blonde tensed, hugging herself tighter, shifting her body slightly away from Lois, gaze lowered.

She was closing herself off completely.

Lois fought against her hormones, which demanded she cry and demand Chloe return to the little girl she dreamt about every night.

"Not Sam." Chloe looked ready to dart out of the door. "I have someone much more preferable to do the job."

That shocked Lois. "Who?"

Chloe bit the inside of her cheek, obviously contemplating what to say, before finally answering. "Lana's breeding partner."

Lois' eyes widened. "_What_?"

"He knows what to do, can ease me through it, and I would like the same person to help me through the Fever." Chloe was shivering slightly, obviously not as brave and indifferent as she tried to portray. "He knows how to handle the Frenzy, and the chances of conception would be much less likely as he knows what _not_ to do." She gulped. "I also won't be so worried about accidentally frying his brain."

Right.

The Jedi Mind Trick, as Dean had dubbed it.

Lois sighed, rubbing her stomach. "How about I talk you through it? I can help you prepare mentally for it."

There was silence.

Chloe gazed on the floor.

Lois begged the gods to give her _something_ to work with.

Chloe finally looked back up at Lois and her lips twitched in an awkward, yet genuinely relieved smile. "I'd like that."

Lois smiled back brightly.

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The girls had retired to bed, Lois and Lana with their customary kiss and Chloe with an awkward little smile.

John sighed as he lay in bed with his wife, listening to her telling him about the moment she'd had in the kitchen with the young blonde. She was both worried that she might have pushed a little too hard and elated at what she believed progress. She loved the young girl, and John knew that it'd been hard for his wife to have Chloe back and yet not living with them. He knew that if it were up to Mary, Chloe would have moved in with them immediately on her return to Lawrence and things would take up where they'd been before Lionel had stolen the girl.

Thing was that while John did love the girl, he knew that it was best she have her space.

He'd been a marine, he recognized the haunted look in her eyes.

How many soldiers returned from war, tormented by what they'd done, the lives they'd taken?

He knew that girl had taken lives. He didn't need to be told that. It was in her body language. In those eyes.

He could also tell that she'd been abused. Her body also gave it away, in the way she avoided people touching her, especially males.

Sam had told them that she hadn't been abused completely, that she'd used her cunning to avoid the threat, but that the threat had been there.

She was even more psychologically damaged than she'd been before.

His fatherly side wanted to hold her tight.

His inner soldier knew she needed to know they cared...but also needed to be given the space she craved.

He'd seen many of his comrades falling victim to PTSD, and considering that this girl not only hadn't been able to truly get over her previous traumas before being submitted to more...well...they had to tread lightly with her and give her all the time and space she needed.

"It's nice having all our girls under our roof again." Mary snuggled in bed, cheek resting over his heart. "Maybe Chloe will begin sleeping over more."

"We won't pressure her." John reminded his wife.

"Of course not." Mary whispered. "But maybe she'll _want_ to."

John sighed, knowing he was going to have to work on his wife, daughters and sons harder to get them to be patient.

They didn't want to frighten the girl away.

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**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville or Supernatural.**

A/N: Sequel to "Toxic".

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She couldn't sleep in the room that had once been her own little sanctuary. She'd tried, tossing and turning restlessly for hours before finally the itching and nervous stomach had gotten too much to bare. A trip to the bathroom and a long, cold shower helped cool her down and also keep the itching at bay, but by the time she returned to the bedroom she was shaking her leg in bed in unease. It was as if the room was claustrophobic, making her heart pound, her breathing harder.

In the end the blonde opened her window and climbed up onto the roof like she used to as a child, taking in deep breaths of the night air until the panic attack finally passed. She'd scratched herself raw by then though, and wondered if she had any long sleeved shirts that would hide the damage she'd done her arms.

Her gaze went over the darkened neighborhood, letting herself reminisce on the time when she lived here. She'd come up here to get away from everything and just think. It was a calming thing then and it was still now.

And she had more to think of.

She knew enough about her body's chemical reactions to know that Adam was found a suitable breeding partner. He was not only aesthetically pleasing, but the fact that he already knew what to do-had been trained to know just like Lucas and whoever Lois' breeding partner had been-well, it made her feel safer. The blonde had wanted desperately to get rid of her virginity on her own term for two years, but that didn't mean that the thought wasn't somewhat scary.

Sure, she understood the whole physiology to it. The tearing of the hymen will be painful and will cause bleeding, there was no way around that...and she understood everything else as well, had studied it extensively...but, well, she'd lived in fear of it under Lionel. And that fear was hard to surpass mentally despite knowing that the threat was no longer there. She'd gone so long thinking of any sexual liaison being something to fear because she'd known he'd be a part of it. But now he was gone, and maybe she'd thrown herself at both Lex and Sam a little too strongly...but they'd been the only ones she trusted to guide her through this psychologically uneasy event.

Tess had talked to her about losing her virginity, assured her that her fears were 'normal'. She'd admitted that the first time hurt and the next times after that were usually still slightly uncomfortable but that in time it got "great". Chloe had spied on Tess and Dean enough to be able to confirm that Tess seemed to be having a wonderful time and in no way was feeling any sort of pain and discomfort.

So that truly was comforting.

And hearing Lois recount her first Frenzy had been educational and that helped because if there was something Chloe was good at it was learning. It also gave her a sense of control back, knowing that she wouldn't just be blindly thrust into the situation. Now having a vague idea of what would be happening, what she'd be feeling, and how to deal with it. That little sense of control over something so important-it made a world of a difference.

"How you doing?"

She was growing increasingly annoyed that tonight alone three people in this household had snuck up on her. "Couldn't sleep."

"Ready for that talk now?" He sat down next to her, gazing ahead of him at the sleeping neighborhood.

Chloe took in a deep breath, unable to look at him. "Are _you_?"

He chuckled slightly, shaking his head as his gaze lowered to his shoes. "So, I mightn't have handled the news so well. But-I didn't want you to see how pissed off I was when I heard what they'd done to you." He took in a deep breath. "Just when I think we might be making progress I find out about _something else_ Lionel's done to screw with you and when that happens I-I feel _violent_. And I don't want you seeing that part of me."

Chloe looked up at him in shock.

Violence really wasn't something she equated with Sam.

Gentleness on the other hand?

Yes.

She'd always seen him as the gentle, patient, caring kind...

...so this admission of his shocked her.

"I wanted you to have as much of a normal teenage-hood as possible while you were here, but apparently I'm doing more harm to you than good." A strong emotion crossed his features. "It kills me that I don't know how to help you!"

"Sam?" Chloe turned further to him, eyes narrowed. "What's wrong? This has more to do than our conversation. What is it? What happened?"

"When I went to pick you up tonight, I talked a little to some guy who claims that he and you were supposed to...you know."

Chloe flinched. "Lucas talked to you?"

"Lucas." Sam frowned at the name, running a hand through his hair. "He told me to back off, that I'm hurting you."

"Lucas needs to mind his own business." The blonde glared, not appreciating his interference at all even _if_ he thought he was helping her. "Don't listen to him, okay? He had no right to talk to you. Nor to tell you those things. I'll deal with him."

"Was he right?" Sam's voice was odd as his gaze remained on his shoes. "Am I just making things worse for you?"

"_No_." Chloe reached out and would have rested it on his shoulder if she hadn't remembered how he avoided touching her, the blonde inching away and hugging herself. "Sam, when I was with grand-_Lionel_-when I was with him and going through the worst of it, I used to think of you. You know, I imagined you in Stanford, wowing everyone with just how smart you were for a normal person...about you studying in the library...doing all the normal things that made you happy. These fantasies helped me get through a lot of things that I wouldn't have been able to if I'd never met you."

Sam slowly, finally, raised his gaze from his shoes and rested it on her.

"It's one of the reasons why I was _so pissed off_ when I found you in that piece of _shit_ garage in the middle of _nowhere_." Chloe admitted, shaking her head. "You have so much potential, Sam, and to know that you threw that all away...I felt betrayed."

"I couldn't stay there and pretend nothing was happening, that you weren't in danger. I couldn't just continue on as if nothing had happened. You were gone, you were in danger, and I'd promised to protect you always." He looked away. "There was only one option for me. I went looking for you."

"You knew you couldn't find me." She whispered, unfolding her arms from her chest and resting them palms down on each side of her, gazing up at the skies.

"But I _did_." He whispered back, reaching out and placing his hand over hers.

The fact that he touched _her_ voluntarily caused a ball of emotion to wedge in her throat, her eyes closing as their fingers threaded together.

"I found you." Chloe's voice was hoarse, yet tinged with amusement.

Sam tightened his hold on hers. "We found each other."

She laughed softly, shaking her head as she turned her gaze towards him. "Okay, we'll leave it at a tie then."

"I can live with that." Sam smiled, rubbing his thumb over the skin of her hand. "I love you, you know."

Her heart skipped a beat every time he'd say that, even when she'd been a child those words from his lips gave her tachycardia. "I know. And I love you too."

There was a pause, and then he took in a deep breath. "I want to be the one to help you...before the Frenzy...and during it."

She froze, pulling her hand from his as she turned to fully look at him in shock. "_What_?"

Sam steeled himself. "I want to help you."

"Up until two minutes ago you flinched away from any touch I gave you and now all of a sudden you want to not only take my virginity but be my mating partner?" Chloe snapped at him, eyes narrowed. "I will _not_ be a thing to be _pitied_ Sam Winchester!"

"_Pity_?" Sam asked, making up his face.

"I _know_ you think you're helping me, that you think this is yet another way to try and help poor, broken me, but _no_. I will _not_ let my first time be a _pity fuck_." She was humming with anger and hurt as she snarled at him. "I already have things arranged. Adam was supposed to be Lana's breeding partner and so he'll be the perfect person for me to go through this with. You don't have to be the _good big brother_ who has to protect and save me from this because Adam is more than willing to-."

Somehow, she now found herself breathless, back against the roof, Sam straddling her body and pinning her down.

Her heart raced and her chest heaved as she stared up at his shadow-covered face, the darkness hiding his eyes and expression from her yet she could retrieve all she needed from the tension in his body.

It fascinated the blonde that although he was pinning her down, Sam's hold on her wasn't restraining and painful, yet was slack and gave her ample room to pull free should she want to.

"You know, for someone who is supposedly a genius, you can be incredibly _naive_ at times." Sam whispered, leaning his forehead against hers. "Chloe, I don't let you touch me because I'm slowly losing control around you." He gave a growl of self-disgust. "You trust me, you depend on me, and yet there are times when I just-there are times when you should be protected _from_ me. Not _by_ me."

She didn't understand exactly what he meant.

Did she somehow incite a negative and violent reaction in him?

And then...and then she _felt_ what he meant...and her eyes widened as she realized he was completely right.

She _was_ naive!

How hadn't she figured it out before?

"The reason you haven't touched me isn't because you're scared of my 'Jedi Mind Trick'." Chloe whispered in awe, biting her bottom lip, feeling like crying in utter relief as those fears were dashed before her.

"Of course not." Sam whispered, voice hoarse. "Is that what you've been thinking?"

She nodded wordlessly, closing her eyes tightly as silent tears of relief made their way down the sides of her face.

Sam's lips brushed against her forehead before slowly making their way down her face as he lowered himself over her, resting most of his weight on his elbows.

That tachycardia returned tenfold.

Chloe trembled as she grabbed the front of his shirt, closing her eyes and arching into him, tilting her head to grant him access to her neck.

"Let me?" Sam whispered against her neck. "Not now...but soon?"

Chloe nodded wordlessly, unable to speak, a fever seeming to have taken over her body.

And then Sam was kissing her, deep.

Chloe pulled him in closer and for the first time that she could remember, her mind went blank.

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